Improvement in self-locking railroad-switches



D. ROUSSEAU & W. 0. SMITH.

, v I SELF-LOCKING RAIL-ROAD SWITCH.

N 175 691 PatentedAprilZS; 1876.

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I Wlimaea: Q Q m'ac N.FE4'ER$. PHOYO L TMQGRAFHER WASHINGTON D C bed of the track.

U NITED' STATES PATENT Grrron.

' .DAVID ROUSSEAU AND WILLIAM 0. SMITH, or NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOBS TO WILLIAM F. SMITH AND SAMUEL SAMUELS, OF SAMEPLAGE.

IMPROVEMENT IN SELF-LOCKING RAILROAD-SWITCHES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 176,691, dated April 25, 1876; application filed February 29, 1876. 1

To all whom it'mag concern: Be it knownthat we, DAVID ROUSSEAU and WILLIAM 0. SMITH, both of N ew York city, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Automatic Switch-Lock for Railroads, of which the following is a specification:

.Figures l and 2 are top views of our improved switch-lock, the switch-rail being shown in different positions. Fig. 3 is a vertical'transverse section ofthe same, on the line 0 c, Fig. 1. Figs. 4. and 5 are side views of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

This invention relates to a new means of locking the switch-rails in their respective positions; and consists in the application over the rod which moves the switch of a vibrating bar or lever, which has a projecting lug for entering sockets in said rod, and a V- shaped cam, to be raised out of said sockets by the actuating lever or finger, all as here: inafter more fully described.

In the accompanying drawing,the letter A represents one of a pair of switch-rails. B is J a rail of the main track, and O a rail'of the shown in line with the rail 0. D is the slidu ing rod, connected with the switch-rail .in

usual manner, and employed as part of the mechanism for moving such switch-rail. E is a vibrating finger or lever, which, when turned by the switch-tender, will strike either one of two projections, shoulders, or pins, 6 b, on the rod D, and thereby move said rod in the desired direction. Instead of pivoting the actuating-finger E, it may be caused to slide and strike the pins a b with equal efl'ect. The parts hereinabove referred to are well known, and not of our invention.

F is our'improved locking-lever. It is at or near one end pivoted, by a pin, (1,. to a fixed "ear, 6, which ear may be bolted or otherwise secured to one of the sleepers, or to the The lever F, by its own weight, will fall upon the rod D,across the end of the finger E, and has a downwardly-projccting lug, f, which is adapted to engage one of two .sockets or mortises, g and h, that are formed in or on the rod D-that is to say,

theleverF locks the rod D, and with it the switch-rails, in the desired position,fand prevents the same from being displaced otherwise than'by the will of the switch tender. The lever-F is moreover made with a V- shaped projection, 75 j, at its lower side, of

,which, in the state of rest, the deepest middle portion will bear upon the rod D in line with that one-of the pins a b which is next to be struck by the finger E. Thus, when the switch connects with the side track, the

lower extremity of the V projection will rest on the rod D near to the pin 00, so that when afterwardthe finger E is moved toward the pin a for moving the switch, said finger will first strike the inclined edge j of said V projection, and raise the lever F out of the mortise g, and then strike the pin a and move the switch; but when the switch is in line with the main track, the deeper part of the V projection will be near the pin I), so that the finger E, when moved toward 1), will first strike the edge i of the V projection and raise the lever F out of the mortise h.

The lock E f i j operates thus quite automatically. It drops by its own weight into the mortise of the rod D as soon as the switch has reached the required position, and is nev- 'ertheless lifted out of the mortise by the tin- J A DAVID ROUSSEAU.

W. 0. SMITH.

'Witnesses:

A. V. BRIESEN, ERNEST O. WEBB 

